Group wants to petition against Judge Doyle Square development

A group is making a new push to stop the development of Judge Doyle Square.

Citizens Against Subsidized Hotels said it wants to start a petition to keep the city of Madison from subsidizing the development.

Members said they want the city to start putting issues like this up for a vote if Madison gives loans for more than $10 million or land giveaways.

The said it is risky, unfair and wasteful spending.

“It’s unfair for many reasons, one is that we already have plenty of hotels in town that are operating in town with subsidy and then their city is subsidizing a competitor against them,” Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said. “I think there’s a real key issue here underlying what they are saying. And it’s really an insult to the people of the city with their long legacy of participation and activism. It’s an insult to the common council, which is so hard.”

If a special referendum is scheduled, Soglin said it will add three to six months and considerable cost to the project.

The group will start collecting signatures in May. The effort needs more than 16,000 signatures by the end of June.

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